Of course I do.
It’s not racist at all. But do cab drivers make good money? Are they being paid for their time in addition to a free meal?
I’m just wondering, because it’s nice and all, but someone’s gotta pay the rent. 
Well, that’s why I figured they’d have to offer him something for his lost wages. I doubted he’d just take a couple of hours off work for a free meal.
In one of their videos they said the guy should leave the meter running.
Thanks.
How is the request to the cabbie made? If it’s made with room for a graceful, “Sorry, guys, I’m kind of busy” denial, then I think it’s fine. If it’s pushy, it’s not fine.
In the video, the request was politely made with an explanation of what they were doing. They offered not only to buy his lunch but told him to keep the meter running as well, so he is actually being paid to eat a free lunch and have a conversation. The whole thing was, I agree, kind of boring but in no way was it disrespectful IMO.
Instead of getting mad, why don’t you just explain that you don’t think of yourself as Greek and wouldn’t have any idea what they say about such and such?
No. If someone is asked something in a situation where they are free to decline, it cannot be presumptuous. Someone asking you if you will help them learn about another culture does not in any way assume that the person exists to teach you about another culture.
If someone asks me to help them with their computer, do I assume that they think I exist just to help them fix computers? Of course not. That is an unwarranted assumption.
The whole point of asking is that they are not presuming anything. You say no, they end the video and still use the service they ordered. We know because we see them do that earlier in the video.
If anyone is being presumptuous, it is you.
It was fairly cool until they started calling him a smelly raghead and kicking him outside the restaurant. That part was pretty racist.
Not a ghost of a chance that I’ll comply with that request.
Which is why it’s perfectly cool to ask a waitress out on a date, right? Oh wait, not it isn’t. That shit is roundly disencouraged because most reasonable people understand the awkward position that is imposed on the waitress. She’s just trying to do her job and go home. Using the moment to hit on her is obnoxious because it turns what should be a routine business transaction into an intimate, personal one.
But maybe you’re the type who sees nothing wrong with that and do it all the time because you think all is fair game in a free country. And I disagree. I consider it tacky to hit on waiters when they are under monetary pressure to be nice and accommodating, and likewise, I feel it is tacky to impose personal small talk (and requests to go out dining) on a taxi driver when they are under monetary pressure to be nice and accomodating.
Ha! You just can’t help yourself, can you? I always can tell when your ox has been gored.
I’m the last person in the world to know about dating etiquette, so understand this is a legitimate question: is there any acceptable way to indicate your interest in a waitress, say, giving her your phone number?
Maybe hand her your card at the end of the transaction (meaning, after you’ve paid), on your way out of the door. That way, she doesn’t have to fret about how to turn you down nicely so as to ensure you won’t screw her on the tip or make an embarrassing scene, and she doesn’t have to feel self-conscious under your gaze for very long.
I think they fact that they have funding from a large company to produce a show is a bit of a factor here. IMO, I think if I went trolling around for cab drivers I could take to restaurants it would be kind of weird and maybe a little wrong, even if I could afford the stuff the people on the show can. However, I think the fact that they’re travelling around with obvious recording equipment and approaching these things like a business transaction changes the dynamic to something different that I don’t think is directly comparable to your average social situation.
I still don’t think it’d be racist though, just potentially annoying or lacking in social niceties. Just like asking a cashier out on a date isn’t really sexist, it’s only sexist in a broad statistical sense due to being in a cultural context where women are sexualized to an abnormal degree. By itself it’s really not any different from any other social faux pas.